Use This Illusion: Floating Table Design

Levitating tables are usually reserved for magicians and seances, but the Floating Table from designer Ingo Maurer is an elegant addition to a non-magical dining room. Making its debut at Ventura Lambrate in Milan this year, the table features a white formica top, solid wood chairs and a special hidden mechanism that allows it to pull off this seemingly mystical stunt.

The legless modern table design was built in collaboration with Established & Sons and seems to float above the matching chairs. In reality, the tabletop is supported by specially-designed armrests that extend out from the accompanying chairs. The chairs are able to pull out from the table thanks to a hidden mechanism, allowing you to sit down comfortably and then pull the chair in closer to the tabletop.

Along with the novelty factor of a legless table, there is a practical aspect to this unusual piece of floating furniture. Sitting at a table without legs means that there is no more fighting for leg space, and no one gets stuck sitting with their knee uncomfortably pressed against the table leg. For once, a piece of potentially “gimmicky” furniture is actually even more useful than a standard design.

“This innovative piece is the first production table from the widely celebrated designer, Ingo Maurer. On first inspection, it appears to be an archetypal wooden kitchen table and chairs but on closer viewing the table is revealed as ‘floating’; without any legs, supported by a simple extending mechanism which connects the chairs. Maurer has drawn inspiration from magic, ethereal substance and weightlessness. Floating Table invites the user to look more carefully at their simple daily objects and furniture for elements of surprise.”